half japanese (and YLT too)

[earl grey]

so what's the best place to start with half japanese? i'd heard lots about them, but never heard more than a song or two before tonight when they opened for YLT (night 5 of the hanukkah shows). really great. didn't expect so much sax. jad fair's solos rule. and david fair is nuts on stage. anyway, it's time i got to know them a little better. i wish i had done this sooner, or at least before the show.

YLT were good BTW. probably the most straight-up YLT show i've seen in a while - mainly just the three of them, lots of gtr/bass/drums songs. and maybe a new song or two? couldn't tell, the covers can sometimes be hard to pick out. but they did a bunch of em with david johansen for the encore. and a cool mix CD by gary panter was for sale. (they're selling a different "celebrity" mix CD each night, panter used to animate peewee's playhouse. cornelius is doing the one for jan 1!)

[johansen smith]

did you buy the Mix CD? if so, what was the tracklisting?

[earl grey]

did you buy the Mix CD? if so, what was the tracklisting?

yeah. apparently the others were all handed over on CD but panter made a tape. which james then had to rip to CD - so track 11 cuts off midway (i.e. at the end of the side). the artwork is a copy of the tape jacket, pretty cool. (though his handwriting's tricky and many titles are abridged.)

rolling stones - it's not easy
sparks - this town ain't big enough for the both of us
bonzo dog - mickey's son and daughter
pain teens - drowning
XTC - grass
wire - indirect enquiries
bee gees - red chair, fade away
psychedelic furs - wedding song
the yardbirds - i'm a man
lovin' spoonful - speakin' of spoken
rotten piece - lonesome tonight (cut)
---
lilys - returns every morning
the rutles - cheese and onions
the who - batman
brian wilson - your imagination
the doors - moonlight drive
roxy music - for your pleasure
cheap trick - come on come on
jimi hendrix - if 6 was 9
pere ubu - thriller

[johansen smith]

interesting, thanks for transcribing for me!

[Miss Tasty Princess]

so what's the best place to start with half japanese?Get the Loud and Horrible CD on Drag City. It's got both records plus a few contemporaneous songs from singles and flexi-discs. Loud is my favorite album of all time and has been for over twenty years, now. It's the point where a triangle composed of The Stooges, The Modern Lovers and The Shaggs intersect.

After that, get Sing No Evil and Charmed Life. Both are excellent big band ventures. The former features most of The Velvet Monkeys and The Orthotonics along with HJ. The latter does, as well, but not as many.

Then, go for the primitive past with their Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts triple-LP box set debut album, conveniently issued on dbl-CD a few years ago with bonus tracks. It covers their earliest duo recordings (why tune the guitar? why play a standard drum beat?) and also has a bunch of cool tape loop experiments plus a good 40 minutes or so of live material (disc three in the original box) with the Dreyfuss brothers, formerly of The Chumps, joining on drums and sax.

Next, I'd recommend Our Solar System, Stripping for Cash, The Band Who Would Be King and We Are Those Who Ache With Amorous Love. The last is a compilation of primarily unreleased material from their earliest incarnation as a trio in Michigan in 1974 up through 1990 or so. All are a bit more stripped down than OSS and CL but all are still quite good.

[pizzagratis]

HCI nailed it pretty well I think, although I really like Fire In the Sky (a later album...has Mo Tucker of VU fame drumming on a couple tracks, including an awesome cover of "I Heard Her Call My Name").

If you're curious about any of that non-HJ Jad Fair output, I'll say I really like these two:

Jad Fair/Jason Willett- Enjoyable Songs
Something like 35 songs of pure cacophony and weirdness in a slightly different vein from the Half Japanese stuff. Released maybe 6 years ago on Alternative Tentacles. Really cool stuff. Kind of inspired me to make my own music.

Strobe Talbot-20 Pop Songs
It is what it says it is, 20 really really really upbeat, short pop songs. Keeping in mind that this is more or less what Jad's been doing for the past 10 years varying degrees of success, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this one's a little different. "Apples and Strawberries" can make me smile in a way only Jonathan Richman at his best can.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Oops, forgot about Fire in the Sky. That's a keeper.

As for Jad solo, his first two solo albums, Everybody Knew But Me and Monarchs, are both great. Lots of noise and sad little songs. Jad's very first solo release, the Zombies of Mora Tau EP is also well-worth your time.

[earl grey]

thanks for the suggestions!